Sussex based speciality coffee

Back in 2012 there were very few roasters in Sussex with a focus on Specialty coffee. Using a 1kg roaster and our garage we decided to change this. We’ve learned a lot over the years and we’ve grown (though we’re still a small team of just 5 people) but what drives us stays the same. Our goal is to source the best, ethically traded coffees in the world and bring them to our customers through a highly methodical approach to roasting with the highest possible focus on quality control.

Our Story

We first started selling our coffee through a stall at the Horsham food market. As a Sussex coffee roaster, Horsham seemed like a great place to start selling our coffee. We’d be there every Thursday and Saturday, come rain or shine, from 2012 until late 2013. It was a steep learning curve, and as we muddled through, demand for our coffee increased, so we must’ve been doing something right.

Coffee production wasn’t the only thing that grew - our family did too! So eventually, we had to give up the stall at the market after the birth of our second son because, evidently, trying to steam a flat white and feed a small child simultaneously isn’t an easy task!

Our experience at the market was very valuable and ultimately was the launch pad for what Horsham Coffee Roaster was to become and is today. It also helped us meet many of the wonderful folks involved in the local coffee community such as our now long standing team member Stephen, who at the time was on his way to Toronto - the city that started our own coffee journey - to begin his path as superstar barista.

Stephen, now the proud owner of Urban Botanica, a fantastic coffee shop in Kennington, South London, is a testament to the growth opportunities that arose from leaving the market. This move allowed us to concentrate on the sourcing and wholesale aspects of our business, and provided the space to expand our roasting capacity.

Through our market presence we very quickly found local customers keen to use our coffee. Now a few years on we have a wholesale family that reaches from the South of  England to Scotland and around the world. The business has moved three time to facilitate growth and we now roast using a 35kg Loring S35. The picture below shows our small roastery located just outside Horsham. This was our home for several years.

In 2014, in partnership with Chris Campbell, we opened our flagship cafe in Brighton, Bond Street Coffee. In 2018 we, alongside Stephen Wood, opened Urban Botanica in Kennington, South London. Both coffee shops are dedicated to serving single origins coffees on espresso and filter. 

Alongside the philosophy that has informed our development over the years our core focus for sourcing has become our Relationship Coffees. These are coffees sourced by us through direct links with farmers and producers alongside our import partners. Currently we have established partnerships in Rwanda, Kenya and Costa Rica. Well chosen importing partners are essential to match us with farmers and co-operatives that are dedicated to producing specialty grade (i.e. the highest possible quality) coffees. We are committed to purchasing ethically traded coffees with full traceability to its origins. We also endeavour to obtain full transparency of our coffee’s financial trail, giving us and our customers, peace of mind that each farmer has been well paid for the outstanding coffee they produce.

We were the first UK roaster to sign The Pledge at transparency.coffee. If you'd like to know more about this please read our transparency report. Our low emissions Loring S35 keeps our emissions low but planting trees puts us into carbon credit. Visit our Eco projects page to read more about the project.

In 2021 we found ourselves very rapidly running out of space in our Horsham based roastery. The best warehouse and location available to us at the time was located in Burgess Hill and we can now be found at Unit 5, 1a William Way, Burgess Hill.

The coffees we stock are specialty lots that have been carefully scrutinised by us through our own cupping and quality control procedures. Bradley, our co-founder is a licensed arabica Q Grader.

Sometimes these will be exclusive coffees that aren't available anywhere else and many are directly sourced by us. When available we have a range of experimental process coffees and unusal and interesting varietals. Look out for bags of coffee with a square all colour label on the front.

We roast in the medium to light colour range allowing for the characteristics of each coffee to dominate and enabling versatility across multiple brew methods. Most of our single origin coffees are fairly lightly roasted and suitable for all brew methods. For those who prefer a darker roast and lower acidity we've created our Nova Espresso blend.

We are fanatical about the quality our coffee, and this obsession goes from the green coffee we purchase right through to the final cup.

In October 2021 we opened our small cafe space at our roastery in Burgess Hill. We offer two different coffee on espresso and rotate through our blends and single origins. All severed on our La Marzocco Linea PB ABR machine. The space is also setup to demonstrate equipment to new and existing wholesale partners.

Our cafe space is well stocked with a fantastic range of brew equipment and bags of coffee available to purchase. Customers can also order online and request collection from our roastery located at Unit 5, 1a William Way, Burgess Hill, RH159AG.

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